Hey what’s up guys. I’ve been playing this game since late season 1 and wanted to do something with my knowledge about league and was told to post here.

A little about me: Started playing LoL around late season 1, finished bronze. Season 2 I finished top 30 in N.A. Season 3, was top 5 on the ladder, and then kind of stopped playing because I was discouraged with new rank system + college/distractions. Season 4 finished somewhere high diamond and currently I’m diamond 4/5 climbing my way back up playing mostly support/ad and top for my collegiate team (recently qualified for NACC) and here to give you guys some advice…right now, about support!

The consensus around the support role is that you can’t carry and that you’re literally there to only ward and peel for carries. This isn’t true. Support, in my opinion is one of the easiest roles to carry a game with in solo queue and even in 5s. You just have to know how to do so, so let’s get started… – Champ select: If it’s your pick and you’re going to be locking in support, first look to see what AD you have on your team, and what their bot lane is. A general tip is to know what kind of lane it’s going to be. This means that if they have longer range/sustain, you need to pick someone to engage with (Leona/thresh/blitz etc.) If the enemy team has all in bot lane, pick something that can withstand an all-in and not get 1 shotted (janna/braum/alistar etc.) Champ pick is not everything, but it can be very influential and remember it’s not all about lane phase so if your team has an aoe comp, you can sacrifice lane phase to help attain that goal and pick a champ that better suits aoe comps like Leona/nami etc.

Lane phase: This is probably your most influential part of the game so I’ll break this down into numerous parts.

Warding: Know who their jungler is and if they have threat to kill you (basically anyone that’s not warwick or nunu), ward yo shit! Note where they started if you have that information available to you, but regardless you want to be putting your trinket ward down after the first wave of creeps so you can prevent a potential cheesy level 2 gank. Make sure you always have at least 1 ward bot in river or tri. This is a must. On your first back, you should look to have enough for both a sighstone and pink or if not, pick up a ruby crystal and 2 green wards with a pink if possible. Ward carefully and tell your teammate your warding with a ping at least so they are careful and don’t all in or derp when your gone warding.

Trading: Right click their ass! Always auto..literally always auto…anything. This is huge. If you can auto enemy champs safely, do it and back up. Use the brush when doing this or when looking for a hook/skillshot. If you’re not autoing champs, auto creeps and push the wave (try not to take cs) so you can hit 2 faster and maintain lane control with creeps. If you hit 2 first, all in their ass and pop your ignite early if you have ignite over exhaust. Trades revolve around abilities and if you see their key ability down, move on them. Ex: if enemy janna shield is down, that’s when to go in and trade/all in. Other examples: name bubble/blitz hook/thresh hook/graves buckshot/Lucian q/(basically any major source of damage potential)

Ignite vs. Exhuast: This one is kinda simple for me at least. Exhaust is usually better because of its impact late game, but you have to remember this is solo queue and your teammate might not react to your exhaust as you use it while in lane so I decide to just use ignite that way my teammate can react easier and faster. It also provides that kill pressure needed. If you see an enemy riven/zed/panth etc, exhaust is probably better because late game it’s op.

Roaming: This shit will win you games and you can do with almost any champion except for like janna. Roam when you have your lane pushed (just remember to ping your ad or let them know) and look for a kill mid. A lot of times mid laners don’t have wards around this time (level 5-6) and you have huge chance of killing them if you’re anyone with cc. Remember you don’t need to kill someone for it to be successful roam. Burning a flash is huge or just being ready for a counter gank. Another part about roams are warding while doing so and if you have a sightstone, this is perfect because you should ward for your mid and put a pink down if you can (this will enable for river control/drag control).

Timers: This is easy. Take timers. Flash is usually 5min…ign/exh usually 3. Type it in chat and don’t forget about it because this is what the lane phase revolves around. Summoner cooldowns should be always on your mind. ‘nami has no flash, let’s all in her this wave’ Knowing their sums will win you lane and the same goes for late game on AD’s.

Teamfights: A lot of this depends on your champ. If you’re Leona/braum/alistar, you can look to dive their carries, but at the same time, you can peel with these champs. You can make this decision of whether you want to dive/peel by looking at the carries on your team/enemy team and whichever carries are stronger, you want to peel/dive them. Typically you want to be staying with your ad if they are a hyper carry and you’re playing something like janna/name/sona/thresh etc. Your job is to keep them alive so in doing so, don’t be hesitant to give your life up and tank for them or cc the enemy to give your carry a few more seconds.

Hopefully all of this was helpful for you guys. Here’s a link to a game of Janna I played (unfortunately we lost, but you should never look at games on whether or not your team lost because it’s solo queue and you’re playing for yourself and your own improvement), hopefully you guys like it and it gives you some insight about how to play and what kind of mindset to have. Sorry my mic was kinda shitty, got a new one just recently, but recorded this with my old one. http://www.twitch.tv/avantilol/c/6135576 If this is well received, I’ll be sure to make some more guides and vods of specific champs and other roles as well!

I’ll be streaming later tonight (7pm EST) if you guys want to tune in or have any questions! I’ll always be checking chat so feel free to say something.

Thanks for reading this and if you guys have any specific questions or comments, don’t hesitate to comment or pm me.